Beer: Reviews & Ratings

look - super dark brown color with a great lasting tan head and sticky lacingsmell - lots of roasted malts with chocolate taste - in between milk chocolate and dark chocolate with some coffee in there with it. feel - smooth medium to lite body with a slight carbonation.Overall - Really great Chocolate taste robust Porter! (329 characters)

Ok first off, I was drawn to this beer because of the name and the design of the can. All I can say about this porter is it's really tasty, nice finger width of head that sticks around for awhile. Its robust as the can claims. Really good beer, not as awesome as the can, but would and hopefully will drink it again. Cheers! (325 characters)

This beer was a slight let down as it had a beautiful appearance and nice aroma. The taste and mouth feel did not follow through as there was too much harsh bitterness in both. Could use a boost in sweetness and smoothness. (655 characters)

Appearance - Pours a deep black, dark as used oil, with a decent one finger tan head that shows a bit of retention and leaves nice, sticky lacing on the sides of the glass. Of course I loved the can and packaging, zombies and monkies together? Should be interesting

Smell - Big time roasted malts, chocolate, and a bit of breads come through on a big, powerful smelling beer. Yum

Taste - Just as the smell and the style would suggest. There are certainly some bready notes in there, of course the roastiness, malts, and chocolate make their presence known. A bit of smoke.

Overall - This is a good beer from an emerging brewery in this area. From a brewery in the middle of nowhere, they are producing some very good products. Condor recommended and approved. (970 characters)

This is an absolutely black beer...tan head and completely obscures the light. The smell is outstanding...roasted malt. Some smoke, a little caramel and toast. The flavor is malty,Mitch heavily roasted notes. Great hop balance. The beer really comes together. Full and satisfying body. This is a treat. (309 characters)

Appearance: Pours a viscous dark black, and with a somewhat careless pour, forms roughly a meter of foamy tan head with some fairly ridiculous retention. iPhone flashlight reveals a speck or two of ruby highlight through the beer. Lacing clings well to the glass.

Taste: Warm, dark bread fills the mouth, from grain-sprinkled crust through chewy, yeasty center to lightly charred bottom. There are spots here and there of crumbled toffee, and a nuttiness very like Brazil nuts. The finish leaves an odd, slightly floral bitterness behind, which is the only indication I taste of any hop presence, mingled with lingering remnants of the bready flavors.

Mouthfeel: This beer drinks full and creamy, evoking words like "rich" - as I tend to split stouts and porters more by feel than other characteristics, I'd say this one leans more towards the stout side of the spectrum. There is no watery finish like many porters have, and the beer seems to resist being folded or swirled with the tongue.

Overall: Given that I have a likely impending move to Iowa happening, I had been concerned about getting my hands on Edmund Fitzgerald regularly enough to satisfy my good porter cravings. Since beers like this appear to be available, I should be able to fill in the gaps between visits to GLBC distribution territory in adequate fashion. (1,568 characters)

I was looking for a stout but this ended up working fantastic. Had a pint with dinner from the keg and was very surprised. Kind of mild depth with a roasty nut hint and fairly strong after taste. (195 characters)

A: Can art is BADASS! 'Tactical grip' is gimmicky and useless (ya need rubber, not textured aluminum!), but the art itself it awesome. Tallgrass usually kills it in this department. Anyway, the beer: black body, at least extremely dark brown, with a sandy tan silky head, sticky, rather thick lace, suggesting strong hopping.

An excellent porter, pours from the can with a velvety off white head, of around an inch. Retains this head for some time. As the beer warms you get some fantastic dark chocolate and roasted malt notes. A whiff of hops on the nose keeps things interesting. Mouthfeel is smooth and inviting, almost like a milkshake. Slight lactose feel here, more so than some milk stouts. (372 characters)

Got this in the tall boy can which was really cool. Had texture and sweet graphics which caught my eye right off the bat. Poured into a pint glass and the dark caramel head was solid and took up a third of the glass, and was staying! Best head on a beer. Taste was great. Heavy mouthful but extremely rich caramel notes with a balanced finish. One of my favorite porters ever! (378 characters)

T- Supremely balanced chared malt, coffee and cocoa. The roast really comes thru but never overpowers and the slightly bitter coffee finish compliments it perfectly. Just a tiny bit of sweetness from the cocoa in there somewhere.

F- Pretty light...here's where its just a bit of a let down...but remembering its a porter and not a stout makes everything ok...it's not supposed to thick and heavy. I guess it's just right for a Porter.

O- I really like this one. Seems to be just right for the style...will def do more of this. (774 characters)

T: Fairly well balanced. Burnt black malts with some chocolate underbody. Bittersweet and dry finish. If burnt, light char, and grainy bread is your thing, it hits those notes. Not much sweetness/fruit. (483 characters)

Pours seal brown with ruby highlights and a good inch of khaki foam if you so desire. Mild aroma smells of roasted coffee, caramel, nuts, and grassy hops.

The taste follows the aroma fairly closely--astringent burnt roast takes the lead, accompanied by an only slightly less pronounced dose of grassy hops. Nuttier aspects emerge more on the back end, along with traces of caramel. The medium body is spot on, however the carbonation is a tad high, creating a mildly distracting prickliness. With that said, it does manage to be incredibly drinkable, as I polished off my can much more quickly than usual.

If you like your beer heavy on roasted malt and easy to drink, this should be quite satisfying. The bitterness is a little higher than I prefer, but I can’t deny that it works in context. It reminds me a bit of Finch’s Secret Stache, but with less chocolate and more char. Worth having more than once. (920 characters)

L (4.5): Nice dark color. Nice amount of head. Looks like you want it to. S (3.5): Smells okay. Not an overly good amount of anything in particular. Can't even describe what it smells like. Or get anything in particular.T (3.75): I was a little disappointed here. Now in all fairness, I've been really into Imperial stouts lately, and this isn't that. But there isn't a whole lot of flavor. It doesn't taste bad, but nothing to write home about. I've had two of the four pack, so I feel like I've given it a fair chance.F (4): Not super creamy, but not super flat either. Probably about right for the style.

Overall (4). I wanted to like this beer more than I did, but it's still a fine beer. It was probably a little overhyped for me. I like most the offerings from Tallgrass, and I 'like' this one. (823 characters)

16oz can. The Drink By date is smudged off this can, so unclear canning date. Poured into a snifter 11/10/2014.

A- Dark cola brown body. Light brown during the pour, not particularly thick. Two and a half finger light brown head with lots of retention time. A bit much, considering it pours with so much head; I have to give it a little bit of time before I can dive in. Lots of lacing though. [3.5]

F- Dark chocolate bitterness, cocoa, mild roasted malt presence, sweet milk chocolate, some earthiness. I enjoy this one, although there seems to be a bit more bitterness than I'd expect rather than chocolate sweetness and roasted character that I've gotten from other porters labeled as "robust". But it's certainly very tasty. [4]

M- On the thinner side of medium body. Not particularly thick or creamy, fine carbonation. Bitter coffee grounds and earth on the finish. At least it's a reasonable ABV, no heat to be found at all. [3.5]

O- Pretty decent robust porter. I've had better examples as far as mouthfeel goes, but it certainly has a nice porter flavour profile for the ABV. [4]

Couldn't get a glass so this is a review from the can. Smells of coffee, chocolate and maybe some toffee in there. Not as thick as some porters, a little watery. Very busy with coffee in this beer. Im catching some chocolate. Not as complex as the packaging leads on. In conclusion, a good beer. Not the best in this style but a fairly good representation of an american porter. I would drink it again. (403 characters)

Zombie Monkie pours a black color with a large long lasting head. There is a very rich malty creamy aroma. The taste is rich and creamy, strong roasted malt flavors small hints of coffee. The body is on the watery side. Overall its a very tasty porter, only problem is the watery feel. (289 characters)

Can as an extra in trade. Pours dark brown, fully opaque in the glass, with a massive khaki brown head. Roasty aroma with bittersweet chocolate, coffee, a bit of dark fruit. Nice. Flavor is a nice roasted malt and chocolate punch with hints of earthy coffee flavors, surprisingly preent since there isn’t coffee in this (I don’t think). A bit of brown sugar sweetness. Pleasant all the way through. Medium body, even pushing light for the style, with medium plus carbonation. Overall a very solid porter in a sea of plenty decent porters. There’s nothing that makes this stick out, but it’s perfectly pleasant and worth sucking down if you want roast without the heft. (676 characters)

Taste: Roasty, then a sweet, candy-like note along with a thin feel for a little bit. It recovers with a roasted coffee/mocha flavor with a mildly bitter finish.

Overall: It's in a can and I like porters so I had to try it. Nice porter, if a slight step down from the top of the heap. Pretty tasty nonetheless, definitely worth a try from this solid brewery. (437 characters)

Dark black in color with a quarter inch of khaki colored head. Brussels lacing. I smell sweet, dark malt and molasses. There is plenty of sweet,slightly smoky dark malt and a hint of molasses in the palate. The mouth is creamy and smooth. (242 characters)

This one has really good flavor. I would give it a bit higher of a rating if it were a bit smoother. With the low ABV you would think the alcohol taste could be masked better. It's not so bad it's off putting but I've had brews at 10+ and they still hide it. Very good, yet not great status. Would drink again and suggest as a drinkable "dark beer" (348 characters)

Taste- At the start roasted malts are very present and balanced very nicely sweet milk chocolate. Towards the finish a citrus/pine hop flavor becomes very noticeable and I could do without it. The hops lighten the beer up a little bit, but that's not what I'm looking for in a porter or stout. Still, a very good tasting beer.

Feel- Medium/full bodied with roasty malts that coat the tongue and linger to the finish. I expect a porter to be easier drinking than a stout and this definitely fits the bill. Heavy malts up front that fade out for a clean finish.

Overall- A very nice porter that is certainly robust and full of roasty/chocolate flavors. Only downside for me is the citrus hop presence towards the end. Overall, a great fall beer worth picking up again if the mood strikes. (88/100) (1,055 characters)

Zombie Monkie pours a deep, dark brown that lets almost zero light through. A dark tan head dissipates fairly fast and leaves a little spotty lacing.The aroma is quite nice with dark chocolate, raisin and dark bread and, perhaps, just a hint of acidic citrus?The taste is very good. Lots of bitter chocolate and a little roast coffee with underlying notes of raisin and prune. There is a nice bittering and drying finish as well as a little bit of acidity (from the hops?) that leaves a nice tingle on the tongue.The mouthfeel is a little weak. It's medium and a little creamy but with a little more substance, this would be a world-class porter.Overall, a really good beer that I'll buy again. I like the layers of flavor. And, what a great can! (750 characters)

Can received in trade from RobertDale thanks for the opportunity.Pours a solid dark brown color with the faintest of garnet at the edges and a huge frothy tan head that persists forever and leaves stickies everywhere. Aromas of cocoa and bakers chocolate with a sharp almost tart fruity bite to it. Citrus and earthy hop aromas are plentiful. The flavor is rich chocolate with hints of caramel and butterscotch. Earthy citrus mixes with hints of plums and a touch of mineral water. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a sweet slick mouthfeel. Nice porter, but I would have liked a bit less fruit and a bit more creaminess. (640 characters)